SYDNEY: Dozens of domestic flights due to leave Sydney were canceled on Monday (Dec 21) and authorities issued more health alerts across town, as Australia battled to contain a recent COVID-19 outbreak in its largest metropolis 4 days earlier than Christmas.
Greater than 50 areas together with cafes, gyms, casinos, and supermarkets throughout Sydney have been infected thus far and authorities urged anybody who had visited the venues to right away get tested and self-isolate.
A new virus cluster, which was detected in Sydney’s northern coastal suburbs final week, grew to more than 80 cases, prompting all different states and territories to shut borders to Sydney’s 5 million residents, throwing their Christmas travel plans into disarray.
Qantas Airways stated several clients had canceled their bookings between Sydney and Melbourne – one of many busiest routes in the world earlier than the pandemic – and on quite a few other home routes from Monday.
“A lot of flights might be canceled… we’ll be contacting clients directly impacted by any flight changes,” Qantas and its low-cost arm, Jetstar, stated in a press release.
Also on Monday, the state of New South Wales (NSW), of which Sydney is the capital, reported its lowest one-day rise in new COVID-19 cases in three days, stoking cautious optimism that authorities have contained Sydney’s outbreak.
The state stated 15 people had tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, down from the 36 infections detected a day earlier and bringing the overall cases within the northern beaches outbreak to 83.
NSW Premier Gladys Brejiklian stated it was too early to say a larger outbreak had been averted as northeastern suburbs entered the third day of a five-day lockdown in the lead as much as Christmas.
“I am happy with what we’ve seen overnight, but once more, it is risky,” Brejiklian advised reporters in Sydney.
The government would offer a replacement by Wednesday on “what Christmas and the next few days appear to be” in terms of additional containment measures past those already imposed on the northeastern suburbs, she added.
Australia has largely averted high coronavirus numbers compared with different developed nations, however, the new cluster has sparked fears of a wider outbreak. The nation has recorded just below 28,200 cases and 908 deaths since the pandemic started.
